Ryuushima Gakuen
by Shara Lunison
Summary: Dumbledore warns both the Potters and the Longbottoms about the prophecy and they decide to take matters into their own hands and create a secret that only they and a man named Robaato-san know of. Not H/N slash, Non-Hogwarts H/N
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Mr. Robaato

**Author:** Shara Lunison

**Beta:** Batsutousai

**Rating:** T

**Pairings:** Undecided

**Warnings:** AU, non-Hogwarts Harry and Neville.

**Summary**: Dumbledore warns both the Potters and the Longbottoms about the Dark Lord's impending attack on one of their families. They decide to take matters into their own hands and create a secret that only they and a man named Robaato-san know of. Both families are attacked, but the boys left behind are only robots. The real Harry and Neville are in Japan under the care of Robaato-san and grow up far away from Britain and Hogwarts. Inspired by Mr. Roboto by Styx

**Disclaim Her:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** A new idea! Please read and review! Let me know what you think!!!

**Chapter One—Bad News**

Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, surveyed the people assembled in the Potter's sitting room. Lily and James Potter were trying to hush their son, Harry, who was only six months old this week. Across the room Alice and Frank Longbottom were laying down their son Neville in the crib the two children were sharing for the evening. Both boys had been born on the same night in St. Mungo's; Harry just before midnight on July the 31st, and Neville minutes after on August 1st. It had created a strong bond between the two families, one that Dumbledore hoped would see them through the newest crisis he was bringing to their attention tonight.

Lily settled Harry in the crib with Neville, placing his pacifier in his mouth. Most witches didn't use the muggle device, but even Alice could freely admit that it prevented a lot of crying from the youngest Potter.

As they settled before him, Dumbledore clasped his hands together before him and shuffled to stand in front of the fireplace. The warm flames eased the aching bones he suffered from in the cold January weather and with a twinkling smile, he began.

"I am afraid that I have some disturbing news."

No one spoke, or asked what he meant. All of these young parents were member of the Order of the Phoenix, and so were (unfortunately) accustomed to portents of doom, death, and destruction raining from the lips of Albus Dumbledore.

"Last summer I attempted to get a head start on interviewing candidates to fill the position of Divination Professor at Hogwarts after dear Lucinda passed away. I happened across a woman named Sibyll Trelawney, who happens to be the great, great granddaughter of Cassandra Trelawney, a renowned Seer. At first I thought she was a complete fraud, but then, quite suddenly, she gave what I believe to be a real prophecy. A prophecy which I have since determined concerns you and your families."

James shook his head. "What do you mean? How does it concern us?"

"What does it say?" Alice asked, glancing anxiously at the crib where both boys were now sleeping.

"I do not believe it would be prudent to share the details of the prophecy with anyone. The important part is, it has come to my attention that there was a spy listening to the interview who heard a portion of the prophecy and has reported his findings back to Voldemort."

Everyone else in the room flinched.

"You have to tell us what it said, Albus. Especially if it involves our families. You mean Harry and Neville, don't you? Are they in danger from You-Know-Who?" Lily demanded.

Albus shook his head sadly. "I cannot tell you, Lily. If the rest of the prophecy got to Voldemort, there's no telling what could happen. But yes, I think one of your families is in danger. Harry and Neville had not been born at the time the prophecy was made, but now there is no doubt that it concerns them. The only problem is that I don't know which one. The prophecy is somewhat vague on that point."

Lily was on her feet in seconds. "You listen to me, Albus Dumbledore. You will tell us this prophecy _now_. How are we supposed to protect our children if we don't even know why they're in danger? We've all been in danger from You-Know-Who constantly; I don't see how a prophecy would change that."

He raised his hands to placate her. "Up until now, he was not targeting you directly. But now, he has a reason. Now he will be seeking you out and he will be coming for Harry, or for Neville. He will be coming to kill them. We have to protect them."

She shook her head and went to remove Harry from the crib, disappearing upstairs with him. Alice seemed to hesitate and then followed suit, bringing Neville upstairs to join Lily in the nursery.

"What do you think?" Alice asked her, settling the boys next to each other.

"I think it's high time someone beat Albus Dumbledore at his own game. He's always so concerned with the greater good that he forgets the individual person in the process. He may very well want to protect our sons, Alice, but by not telling us the prophecy he is also endangering them."

"So what do you suggest?"

Lily smiled craftily. She hadn't been best friends with Severus Snape for six years for nothing. "James and Frank will likely agree with anything he says. Tomorrow, bring Neville with you while they're at work. We're going to pay a visit to the Department of Mysteries."

Alice blanched. "To the room of prophecies? But we don't even know where to look, Lily."

"If that prophecy involves either of our sons, it will be recorded there. And they will be able to touch it and remove it from the shelf so we can see it. We'll put it back before we leave, but I have to know what it says. I want to protect my son at all costs. And Neville too."

"All right. I'll come first thing tomorrow morning after Frank leaves for the Auror office."

Downstairs, Albus discussed the problem of protection with James and Frank.

"I will cast a Fidelius Charm on your homes. No one will be able to find you. But you must choose a secret keeper to keep the information hidden. Discuss it with your wives. I will return in a week's time to perform the necessary preparations. Good luck, gentlemen."

The two men exchanged looks and went upstairs as Albus left. It was up to them to convince their wives.

0-0-0

The next morning, Alice appeared in the Potter's fireplace holding Neville in a clever fabric pouch that Lily had given her for Christmas from a muggle magazine.

"Ready to go?" Lily asked, situating Harry in a similar pouch.

"Yup. They should be in the office by now. How are we going to get in?"

Lily grinned. "We're going to ask."

They entered the Ministry through the lift entrance in the muggle telephone booth. Inside they had their wands weighed by the guard attending the gates and took the first available elevator down to the lowest area of the structure. The guard on attendance here smiled his welcome at Lily and Alice, recognizing them as Aurors even though they were currently on maternity leave.

"Jones," Lily greeted him with relief. It would be much easier since she knew this guard. "We need to view a prophecy in the DoM. Can you fetch us an escort?"

His eyebrows shot upwards at the word 'prophecy' but he obliged nevertheless. He knocked on the ordinary black wooden door beside him and a few minutes later a petite woman with a shock of orange-blonde hair poked her head out.

"Hello? What's this, then?" she asked Jones.

"Mrs. Potter and Mrs. Longbottom would like to view a prophecy and requested an escort. Can you…?"

She smiled. "Of course. Wait just a moment." The door snapped shut momentarily and they heard a strange grinding of gears and then the woman reappeared. "Come on in."

Lily and Alice entered and looked around with interest. Neither of them had been in the DoM before, so everything was new. The room they were in was circular and contained at least ten different doors identical to the one they had just come through.

"If you find the need to address me, call me Unspeakable Smith or just Smith," tThe woman told them. "Now, follow me. I'll take you to the hall of prophecies."

She opened the door directly across from them and they entered a dark corridor with walls made of steel. There were sounds coming from either side. Clearly, the walls were panels that could be raised and lowered to protect the secrets within. At the end of that room they came into a long, wide, and tall room filled with shelf after shelf of crystal orbs.

"This is the hall. Which prophecy did you need?"

Alice gaped around herself with an open mouth. "Er… it would be a recent one. Told by Sibyll Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore and possibly regarding Harry Potter or Neville Longbottom."

Smith's eyebrows were raised. "Indeed. Follow me."

They walked for several minutes until they reached what seemed to be the proper aisle. "It'll be three shelves down on the left," Smith told them, seeming content to wait where she was.

"Thank you," Lily said sincerely.

Smith nodded with a smile.

They quickly found the correct shelf and studied the label.

S.P.T. to A.P.W.B.D.

Dark Lord

and child born in late July/early August

"This is it," Lily murmured. Harry was gurgling in his carrier and reaching out with a baby grin towards the flickering orb. "It can still be either of them. There must be some way to tell which one."

"Let him take it," Alice murmured. "The shelves are spelled so that only those who heard, gave, or are mentioned in the prophecy can touch it. Right now any child born at the end of July could move it."

Lily removed Harry from the carrier and lifted him up. "Go on, Prongslet, take it." He reached out both hands and rolled the orb gently off the shelf to let it fall. Alice caught it, letting her breath out in a whoosh as it came dangerously close to smashing.

The two mothers held it between them and silently listened as the specter of a woman surfaced from within the orb, her thick spectacles magnifying her eyes horribly.

"_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…"_

"So that's it," Alice whispered. "One of our sons, because of when they're born, and because we have defied You-Know-Who, will have to fight him or die trying." She sighed and turned away, leaving the orb in Lily's hands.

"No wonder Albus wouldn't tell us." Lily seethed, staring at the orb. "He's already grooming them to be his Chosen One. A baby, not even a year old, to defeat the worst Dark Lord our world has ever seen."

"Never mind hiding our families," Alice muttered. "We need them to completely disappear. There's no way You-Know-Who will give up on finding them, no matter how little of the prophecy he's heard. But especially if he's heard only the first part…" she trailed off, realizing the implications.

"If he's only heard the first part, then he would strike without knowing what the rest of the prophecy says. He would mark one of them 'as his equal'," Lily finished. She hastily placed the orb back on the shelf and hugged Harry close to herself.

"I have an idea," Alice whispered.

"I'm all ears," Lily answered, "But not here. Let's get home and let the boys play for the rest of the morning. We can discuss it there."

Smith was waiting for them at the end of the aisle when they reemerged. She stopped with one upraised hand and looked directly at Alice. "I know what you're planning, and it has merit. Take this." She handed the other woman a plain muggle business card with one name on it: Mr. Robaato. "He can help you."

"You know?" Lily asked, perplexed. "You won't tell anyone, will you?"

Smith shook her head and began leading them back to the exit. "I am incapable of telling anyone anything. Besides, I'm due for a wipe this afternoon. I won't even remember you being here after three o'clock." She smiled back at them mysteriously. "But you must promise not to share that with anyone."

Both women nodded, despite their confusion.

They left Unspeakable Smith at the entrance door and said goodbye to Jones before going home. Behind them, the blonde woman silently obliviated their presence from Jones' mind. The trip had taken only one short hour, so there was little chance of them accidentally running into their husbands, and they didn't see anyone else they knew the whole time they were there.

Back in the Potter living room, the mothers discussed their options, studying the strange business card while they watched the boys playing on the floor.

"I was originally just thinking of sending them into hiding and transfiguring something in their place to look like them, but maybe we should see what this Mr. Robaato can do first," Alice confessed.

Lily nodded. "The transfiguration would have been good, but the transformations won't last long enough. Merlin only knows how long we'll be hiding before he comes for us. What does the card say?"

Alice shook her head. "Nothing, just "Mr. Robaato, 1-5 Fujisaki, Osaka, Japan and some other numbers. Hang on, it looks like there's something written down here. It's practically invisible!"

Lily leaned over to look more closely, then gently tilted up the card so that the hidden words shone in the light. "Portkey password." She took her hands off of the card immediately. "It's a portkey. Put it down first." Alice followed suit. "The password is Jinzou Ningen."

A light shot out of the card and engulfed the two mothers and their children immediately. They felt that strange and horrible feeling of a hook behind their navels dragging them along hundreds of miles each second. And then suddenly they landed with a jolt, both Alice and Lily falling onto their rumps since they had been sitting and Harry and Neville giggling at their mothers' antics while they continued to play with their toys, which had come with them.

"Where are we?" Alice gasped.

"I don't know. Japan, if the card is true. But it shouldn't have worked without us touching it."

"It is a special portkey of my own design."

The women turned and stood up, grasping their wands as they saw the source of the voice. He was of medium height for a man, with clearly Asian skin and features. But his eyes were a warm dark brown and he was smiling at them, completely non-threatening.

"My name is Robert," he said, his accent making the name come out as 'Robaato'. "I am here to help you."

A/N: Jinzou Ningen means "robot". Muwahahahahaha!!! Read and review, ne? ^_~


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Mr. Robaato

**Author:** Shara Lunison

**Beta:** Batsutousai

**Rating:** T

**Pairings:** Undecided

**Warnings:** AU, non-Hogwarts Harry and Neville.

**Summary**: Dumbledore warns both the Potters and the Longbottoms about the Dark Lord's impending attack on one of their families. They decide to take matters into their own hands and create a secret that only they and a man named Robaato-san know of. Both families are attacked, but the boys left behind are only robots. The real Harry and Neville are in Japan under the care of Robaato-san and grow up far away from Britain and Hogwarts. Inspired by Mr. Roboto by Styx

**Disclaim Her:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** These first two chapters are rather short, but after this I'm going to be skipping until the boys start school. Please read and review!

**Chapter Two—Meet KILROY**

Alice and Lily hesitantly lowered their wands as Robert continued. "So, these are the children of prophecy." He smiled down at Harry and Neville, who gurgled happily as they played with their toys.

"How do you know…" Lily started to ask.

Robert returned his attention to the two mothers and gestured for them to follow him out of the room. Alice hesitated, looking at the boys.

"They will be safe in this room, I promise you. Come, things will make more sense if I can show you exactly what it is that I do."

They left the room and watched as Robert placed several notification charms and wards on the room, all keyed to the mothers by his side. Satisfied, he led them down the short corridor and the three entered another room with a small seating arrangement and a young boy of about eight waiting and holding a tray with three Japanese tea cups.

"This, is KILROY one." Robert gestured to the child and the tray was placed on the table before he came forward to meet the two women.

"It's nice to meet you," said KILROY one.

"A pleasure." Alice smiled.

"Kilroy One? Is that your last name?" Lily asked, confused.

"One is my designation. I am the first KILROY created by Mr. Robert," the boy explained.

"Created?" Alice asked, feeling faint as she looked at the perfectly normal looking child in front of her.

Robert smiled again. "Come, sit down and I will explain and give you an idea of what I can do to help you." He said something in Japanese to KILROY one and the boy nodded and left the room through another door. The three adults took their places around the small table where the tea was waiting, and Robert handed each woman a cup. "Have you ever heard the phrase, 'Kilroy was here?'" he asked.

They shook their heads.

"How about, 'Chad was here?' I believe that is the version most popular in the U.K."

Lily frowned, remembering. "When I was a little girl, I remember seeing a cartoon of a man with a long nosing poking his head over a wall with that written over it. It was in the midst of some of my grandfather's papers—he fought during the second world war."

Robert nodded. "Kilroy was the American version of that cartoon. It was created by soldiers who drew it as graffiti on brick walls and other places. That is where my KILROY gets his name. Despite his age, he is a soldier just like those men who fought the muggle wars."

"But how could you 'create' a boy? You haven't been raising him to be a fighter, have you?" Alice asked in horror.

"No, we mean create in the simplest terms. KILROY one is a robot. The first of his kind anywhere in the world. You are here because I intend to make KILROY two and three look like your sons. They will grow up, learn, act, and behave just like your own sons would were they to experience the same circumstances. But at the same time, the robots will be more capable of defending themselves and will replace your sons until such a time as it is safe for them to return."

Lily shook her head. "I don't understand, how is this possible?"

"Perhaps I should bring KILROY one back so that you will see with your own eyes." He stood and went to the door that the boy had disappeared through before, opened it and let the eight year old back into the room. "He has human organs. I used those of organ donors for which there were no matches. They would have been wasted had I not taken them. His blood is the same as your own, only much hotter. You are familiar with computers?"

Lily nodded while Alice shook her head.

"In a computer, there are fans that continually cool the pieces inside to prevent it from overheating. Inside of KILROY, the blood does the same. It cycles through the computerized parts and wicks the heat away, carrying it to the skin where it is released normally. His brain," Robert tapped the boy's skull gently with one finger, "_is _the computer. It runs the entire body and contains all of the programming that makes him appear to be a normal boy. He is a biomechanical child, who functions the same as any normal human. The only difference is that he was created."

The two women just gaped at KILROY in shock.

"When I was informed of the prophecy, I took the liberty of beginning the construction immediately, knowing that you would need my services to protect your sons. The bodies are complete. All they are missing are organs, blood, and the DNA of your sons. If you wish it, I could have them finished in an hour and you could take home KILROY two and three tonight."

"But how did you know about the prophecy? And what will we do with the real Harry and Neville?" Alice asked.

He grinned broadly. "I have a friend in the U.K. Ministry of Magic. I believe that you met her—she's the one who gave you my business card?"

Alice shook her head in disbelief at the nerve of the Unspeakable they had spoken to. Still, it meant that they had a way to protect their children. "And our sons?"

"They can remain here with me, if you will permit it. When the danger has passed, you can come to collect them yourselves."

"And if we can't?" Lily asked softly.

He sighed. "If you cannot, but one of you remains I assume that the other would collect both boys. If neither of you can retrieve them…" He looked between the two women sadly, imagining the pain it must give them to think of leaving their children forever. "If neither of you comes, I will raise them myself or find someone else more capable of doing so. They will be raised as brothers, in a loving home. And I will ensure that they know who they are as they grow up."

Lily looked at Alice with a raised eyebrow. The blond woman nodded. "What do we have to do?" Lily asked.

"First, let's go get Harry and Neville. Then I will show you to the lab and the robots that will become your sons."

They returned to the room where the boys were still playing and scooped them up, then followed Robert from the room. KILROY joined them in the lab, seeming excited that he was going to have 'brothers' finally.

The man removed sheets that were covering two small forms on the tables in the room. The skeletons that were revealed were completely metallic. Tiny spines connected to delicate little arms and legs. The skulls where they connected to the spines were putting forth different colored flashing lights from the computerized brains inside.

"First," Robert stated, pulling over a rolling metal tray and selecting two empty test tubes, "comes the skin. All I need are a few cells." He rubbed a slightly rough square of fabric over each boy's arm, collecting the lightly drifting pieces of dead skin as they fell. "Next is the blood." He picked up two syringes and approached Harry, who whimpered and hid his head in his mother's neck.

"Shhh… Harry." Lily hugged him as the doctor took his arm and gently and quickly drew blood from the crook of his elbow. The boy was genuinely surprised a moment later when he spotted the wad of cotton and a suitably cool bandage with ninjas on it. The process was repeated with Neville, with minimal fuss.

"In the case of your sons, I do not need to obtain organs from a different source. It is just as well, since it would be much more difficult to find ones that match their age and blood types." Robert inserted the tubes containing Harry's skin and blood into a machine and moved it on the rolling cart where it sat until it was beside the first skeleton. "The computer will extract their DNA from the skin cells, and build the musculature and organs of the body from scratch." He flipped a switch on the machine and lowered a glass encasement from the ceiling that sealed the skeleton inside with the machine. In moments, several long arms descended on the body and the two women and the boys in their arms watched in amazement as organs, muscle, and skin were layered onto the body on the table.

"All of this works despite being near the magic?" Alice asked, fascinated.

"It _runs_ on magic," Robert explained with a grin. "Which is what will let KILROY two and three use magic as though they were real wizards. They will absorb it from their surroundings—just enough at this age to perform accidental magic, which is part of their programming, but when they reach Hogwarts the high level of magic in that place will allow them to fit in, if not to excel among their peers."

"If they reach Hogwarts," Lily murmured, hugging Harry closer. The man looked slightly chastised, but still excited as the body was being created before their eyes.

After about fifteen minutes, the machine finished with the layers of skin and Lily watched in amazement as Harry's messy black hair was created on the robot's head.

The machine turned off and Robert raised the partition, already removing the vials and replacing them with Neville's to move onto the other skeleton. "He will awake in a few moments. His body is adjusting and it will take a while for him to actually begin breathing and his heart beating and other organs to work."

A separate partition lowered over the second body and the construction of KILROY three began.

"This… is amazing," Lily said, gently touching robot Harry's face and flinching back when she felt the warmth there.

"I hab twin!" Harry crowed happily from her arms. Lily smiled at him and then hugged him a little tighter, realizing that she would be leaving him here very shortly and might not ever see him again. She watched as the robot of her son slowly came to life. His chest began to rise and fall, and she felt a pulse when she touched his wrist on the table. Halfway through the construction of Neville, a third pair of emerald green eyes joined the room, looking up at Lily with confusion for a few seconds before she was graced with a beautiful angelic smile. Just like Harry.

"Mummy!" the robot held his arms up needily, desperately wanting to be held for the first time. Lily juggled the real Harry onto one shoulder and awkwardly held out the other for the little boy on the table. He sat up and latched onto her, and a moment later Lily was holding two snuggling babies. She could swear that they joined hands behind her neck.

"If this is what it's like to have twins, I'll gladly keep this little KILROY when everything is over and done with." Lily smiled across the room at Robert and Alice.

Another twenty minutes later, and there were two Nevilles clutching Alice's hands as they returned to the sitting room.

It was then that they had to say their goodbyes to their real sons. But surprisingly for both mothers, the boys seemed to understand exactly what was happening.

"Bad man coming." Harry nodded seriously as Lily struggled to explain.

"We safe here. Mummies come back soon?" Neville asked.

Alice opened and closed her mouth several times. "We want to, sweetheart. But if the bad man catches us, we may not be able to come for you."

The boys looked distinctly teary at that, but stoically held back.

"Then we wait," Harry said firmly.

Lily began crying at that, hugging her son one last time as Alice did the same with Neville.

"Good luck," Robert told them, handing them a new business card. "Use this to return when you can. The password is the same. I'll use it to send you back to your home."

"Goodbye," Lily whispered to Harry.

"Jinzou ningen," Robert whispered. And they were gone. Harry and Neville snuffled, finally giving in to their tears. He squatted down and hugged them both to him. "Shhh… it will be all right, boys."

-o-0-o-

_Two months later…_

Robert read the U.K. newspaper with blurry eyes. There were tears running down his face unheeded as he scanned the articles.

**The Boy-Who-Lived**

_Late on the night of October 31__st__, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named attacked the Potters, killing Lily and James before moving to strike their one-year-old son, Harry. For some reason not yet know to Ministry officials, when the Killing Curse was fired at the youngest Potter, it rebounded back onto the Dark Lord, killing him instead. Young Harry Potter still lives and has been taken into custody by Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry…_

**Longbottoms in St. Mungo's After Vicious Attack by Lestrange**

_Mere hours after the fall of the Dark Lord, Bellatrix Lestrange, along with her husband and his brother, attacked the home of Alice and Frank Longbottom. The two aurors were tortured into insanity by the cruciatus curse, their young son escaping their fate due to the time he was spending with his grandmother, Augusta Longbottom…_

Sighing, Robert wiped his face and tried to decide what he was going to tell the boys. The shuffle of two small pairs of feet made him look up. There were Harry and Neville, looking between him and the paper with wise eyes. He soon found himself with two children crawling into his lap and he wrapped them in his arms and they all cried together.

It seemed that there was little to explain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Mr. Robaato

**Author:** Shara Lunison

**Beta:** Batsutousai

**Rating:** T

**Pairings:** Undecided

**Warnings:** AU, non-Hogwarts Harry and Neville.

**Summary**: Dumbledore warns both the Potters and the Longbottoms about the Dark Lord's impending attack on one of their families. They decide to take matters into their own hands and create a secret that only they and a man named Robaato-san know of. Both families are attacked, but the boys left behind are only robots. The real Harry and Neville are in Japan under the care of Robaato-san and grow up far away from Britain and Hogwarts. Inspired by Mr. Roboto by Styx

**Disclaim Her:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** With very few exceptions, I am not going to translate the Japanese in this story. Mostly because when I'm reading a fic, I hate to see those little asterisks or numbers for footnotes or (Merlin forbid) author's notes IN the fic. So, for those who don't know, 'Shogakkou' is elementary school, 'Chugakkou' is middle school. 'Koukou', when we get there, is high school. Oh, and 'shinkansen' is the bullet train (I've ridden one, they're _very_ fast and I did get a little motion sick).

**Chapter Three—Ryuushima Chugakkou**

"Robaato-san!" Harry called up the stairs to his adoptive father. "There's a ton of owls down here with some very official looking letters!"

A head popped over the edge of the balcony upstairs and the puzzled face of Robert Katsuro peered down at Harry. "What is today?"

The green-eyed boy shook his head in chagrin at his guardian, "March 3rd."

"Oh. How old are you two now?"

"Robaato-san!" Harry cried with exasperation. "You know very well that we're eleven."

"And I got them to start you in shogakkou a year early…" the man mumbled to himself as he came slowly down the stairs.

Neville poked his head out of his room at the commotion they had been making and came downstairs as well. "What's going on, bro?"

"There's a whole bunch of letters waiting for dad in the kitchen," Harry explained.

Robert was already in the kitchen by this time and they entered to hear him laughing as he removed two letters from each of the owls. "I hate to tell you this, Harry, but these letters are for you and Neville."

"Oh." Harry moved forward and took the small stack of letters that Robert handed him. After a moment he realized what they were with surprise. "These are magical schools that want us to come?" he asked.

"Looks like it," Neville said. He had already opened the top one and was reading about one of the schools.

Harry followed suit and opened a letter with a crest of what he thought was the Sydney Opera House on the flap. It turned out to be from Sydney Academy, offering him a position to start in the fall. That confused him for a moment, until he remembered that they were across the equator and therefore it was summer for them, while it was still practically winter in Japan. The place sounded nice enough until he looked at the list of required materials and saw that they focused rather heavily on spell courses rather than a mixture of practical and magical pursuits, which he was more interested in.

The second letter was tied closed on the back with a bit of red silk cloth. He unfolded the delicate parchment within and saw that this school was in China. Choudou Hui, to be specific. This place was more promising, especially when he saw that one of the required items was a short sword. Apparently one of the classes everyone took was Fencing. But there was no Potions class, which he was rather fond of from the lessons Robert had given he and Neville for the past several years.

The last letter had a simple square blue ink stamp of a dragon on the back and was addressed in Japanese as was the letter inside. Having not heard of a school in Japan before this, Harry read the letter with especial care.

_Katsuro-san,_

_We are pleased to invite you to attend Ryuushima Mahou no Gakkou. We function similarly to typical middle and high schools in the rest of Japan. Students spend their first three years taking a mixture of muggle and magical courses in Ryuushima Chugakkou and their final three years in either Ryuushima Koukou or the more specialized Tokujyutsu Koukou. A series of entrance examinations takes place when you finish in the middle school and, should you be accepted by Tokujyutsu, an aptitude test for the specialized classes will follow._

_A list of the courses offered as well as supplies you will need is attached. Please also note that we have worked hard to incorporate typical club activities into our school program (both muggle and magical). We encourage students to join at least one club during their time here—for this reason a separate sheet listing the available clubs is attached. You may wish to purchase your own supplies if you are interested in a particular club, though we have a small selection available to students. _

_We await your owl by March 18__th__. Term begins on April 14__th__._

_Himejima Suzume_

_Headmistress RMnG_

Very much interested, Harry looked at the list of classes and smiled. The middle school continued the important muggle subjects that could be applied to magical studies: English, Japanese, math, history, and geography. Several of these overlapped into wizarding cultures. And the other core classes would give him a good grounding in the basic disciplines available to wizards—Potions, Charms, Transfiguration, Defense, Astronomy, and Herbology.

They had provided the high school courses as well. The normal school added Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Offensive Magics to the curriculum, while the specialty school added the same as well as Dueling, Blood Magic, Necromancy, Healing, Warding, various Elemental courses, and Wandless Magic.

And the list of clubs was quite extensive. He didn't even know what some of them were!

Looking up, he saw that Neville was eagerly studying the same letter. "What do you think?" he asked.

"I think Ryuushima looks the best of them all. Plus it's the closest, which makes traveling to and from a lot easier."

Robert nodded, calmly drinking his tea while he let the boys decided. But he added his two yen just so they knew there was another option, "You could also remain here and I could home school you in magic while you attended muggle school."

They nodded, thinking over their options individually.

Finally, Harry asked, "The robots have already started school, right?"

Robert looked surprised for a moment and then nodded thoughtfully, "I suppose they have. Hogwarts, where both of your parents went, began in September."

"Why didn't we go there, instead of them? Voldemort is gone, isn't he?" Neville asked.

The older man shook his head. "My sources say that he is still around somewhere. Not alive by any means, but not entirely dead either. There is a good chance that he will try to come back now that Harry appears to have re-entered the wizarding world."

"I think we should attend a magical school," Harry stated firmly. "I know that KILROY two and three are very capable of defending themselves, but there is still the chance that they will be revealed or that they cannot stop Voldemort should he come back. Neville and I have to be ready should that happen."

Neville nodded in total agreement and held up the Ryuushima letter. "And I think this place is our best bet. Aside from the regular courses, they have a much stronger defense curriculum, especially if we make the marks to get into Tokujyutsu. And I think one or two of the clubs could give us an edge that most wizards don't have."

"So you will prepare to fight, and hope that you do not have to," Robert summarized. "And if all that preparation is for naught, what will you do with yourselves? You will be capable fighters, it is true, but what will you do with those skills?"

"Our parents were aurors," Harry whispered.

Their guardian smiled. "An admirable pursuit. To follow in the footsteps of one's parents grants them the greatest honor for having raised you. But for you, who have never known your parents, I believe that you would do great honor to their memory."

Both boys smiled shyly. "I guess we're going to Ryuushima, then," Neville surmised. He stood to grab a pen and paper from the small desk in the corner of the kitchen. "I guess we should let them know." He began to write a letter on both he and Harry's behalf, accepting the positions at the Japanese school and asking for any other information they needed, like how to get there.

"I'll go fetch Shiroko-chan." Harry volunteered, grabbing his scarf and coat and dashing out the door to visit the small shed adjacent to their house. After Robert had come to be their guardian, he had bought the small house in Kyoto as a home for the two boys. The place where they had lived with him before was still his office, but he flooed there every morning instead of living there as he had before.

"Shiroko-chan!" Harry called softly, making a gentle hooting noise in the back of his throat as he called out to the snowy white owl. On silent wings she swooped out of the depths of the shed and landed on his outstretched arm, sidling sideways up it until she could rest on his shoulder and preen his hair with her beak. "Hey girl," he said softly, stroking the downy feathers on her breast. "We've got a letter for you to deliver, think you're up for a good flight?"

She hooted in response and he smiled and took her back inside the warm house.

"Letter's done," Neville announced and held it out for Shiroko to take. She gripped it in her beak and Harry opened the door for her, watching her softly take to the wing and flap away into the sky.

"Should we let the other schools know that we won't be attending?" Harry asked, fingering the other letters on the table.

"It would be polite. But we don't need to owl them a response back. Just write 'I will be attending an alternate school. Thank you for your consideration' at the bottom, and they should get the message automatically," Robert said.

The boys did as instructed and the letters re-folded themselves and disappeared with a pop from the table.

"Now that that's taken care of, perhaps you would like to go shopping for your school supplies?" he asked. Both boy's eyes lit up enthusiastically and he chuckled, grabbing his coat from the hook by the door and handing Neville his. Harry was still wearing his own. "Let's go to Abenoboshi, then."

-o-0-o-

"We still need uniforms, wands, and I suppose we should think about what clubs we want to join and get any supplies we need for those as well," Harry said, juggling several packages to read through the list on his letter again.

"Give me those," Robert told him, shrinking the wrapped books and other supplies and placing them in the bag he had slung over his shoulder. He did the same for Neville.

"You should join the Quidditch club, Harry," Neville told him. "I know how much you love to fly."

Harry waffled a bit, "It _is_ fun, but it's not really practical, is it?"

"Do it. You're going to want to have a little bit of fun while you're at school. And Quidditch is also good for building fast reflexes," Robert chided him.

"All right, then I'll need a proper broom to take with me," he said. Glancing through the rest of the list, Harry asked, "I've been interested in sword fighting for a while, but they only have kendo. Do you think they're similar?"

"Kendo is more structured than the fencing you're thinking of, I think. But practices generally involve lots of repetition. By the time you've been in the club six years, you might just surprise yourself with how much you know. Give it a year. We can always see about finding you a summer tutor to augment the kendo club."

"Then I guess I'll also need to get supplies for that. Know any muggle stores that sell kendo supplies?" he asked jokingly.

"As a matter of fact, yes. What about you, Neville? Which clubs are you going to join?"

The boy blushed and looked down at his letter. "Tai chi and Kung Fu."

"It suits you." Harry smiled at his brother reassuringly. Neville beamed back in response.

"We can get you a basic uniform for those at the same store I'm thinking of. For now, let's get your uniforms at Tanaka's. What's this school asking for?"

"It says just to ask. Any magical tailor is supposed to be able to provide them," Harry told him.

Robert smiled. "All right. In we go."

The trio entered a small and very traditional shop. Each of them removed their shoes inside the door and traded them for house slippers.

"Welcome!" a short, balding old man who was most likely Tanatka greeted them, "What can I do for you?"

"My boys are going to be starting at Ryuushima this spring. They need a few uniforms for their first year," Robert told him.

"Chugakkou?" Tanaka asked the boys. They nodded. "Right, let me just get a few quick measurements and I'll find an appropriate uniform for you each to try on." He whipped his tape measure around each of their forms and disappeared into the back for a few moments. When he returned, he handed each boy a stack of clothing and motioned to a set of changing rooms along the side of the shop.

Harry closed the curtain after him and studied the uniform as he put it on. It was similar to a normal middle school uniform, consisting of a pair of black slacks, a button down white shirt edged in blue plaid on the cuffs, collar, and hem, a blue blazer, and a matching blue plaid tie. Over all of this went a very loose black robe that had no sleeves and had slits halfway up the sides and back so that movement wasn't impeded. It was open down the front and had the same square blue dragon printed on the left breast, just like the letter he had received.

Stepping out of the changing room, he found Neville wearing an identical outfit and looking quite happy with the result. Harry was a bit jealous—the blue really went well with Neville's eyes.

The tailor cast a few resizing charms on the clothes, even though they felt and looked fine to Harry. He wasn't going to argue with the creator, though.

"Come back to me if you need them resized," Tanaka told them. "And if you return these uniforms in good condition when you enter the high school, I'll give you a discount on the new uniforms."

"The high school uniforms are different?" Harry asked curiously.

"Blue for chugakkou, green for koukou," said Tanaka.

"And the Tokujyutsu Koukou is also green?" Neville asked.

The man smiled. "Let me show you." He disappeared momentarily and returned with a different uniform on a hanger. The style was the almost the same, and there were the same black slacks, but the blazer was much shorter and more form fitting in a dark charcoal grey color and the shirt was edged in green plaid to match the tie. The over-robe was again different, still sleeveless, but hugging the waist due to the lighter-weight jacket underneath. It closed with a silver dragon-shaped clasp. The bottom of the robe was fuller as well, and only slitted at the back.

"Whoa," Harry said softly. He was definitely looking forward to wearing _that_.

"I will prepare two more uniforms for each of you. It will be sixty galleons, total," he told Robert, who winced slightly at the price tag.

"I suppose it's no worse than what I'd pay for normal middle school uniforms," he muttered as he counted out the money from his bag.

"Sorry Robaato-san," they boys told him softly.

"Don't worry about it. Just take good care of them so that we can get that discount in three years." He winked at them.

The newest parcel was shrunk and they left the shop in good spirits. Both boys were looking forward to getting their first wands.

"Takumi and I went to school together," Robert told them as they entered the shop, Kiyogumi Wands.

"Robaato-san!" a voice greeted them from the back of the store and a young man with a laughing smile on his face appeared behind the counter. "It is good to see you again. What can I do for you?" He studied the two boys beside his old friend with curiosity.

"My sons need their wands. They will be starting Ryuushima this year."

"Oh, they're not going to our old alma mater?" Takumi asked.

"They were not, unfortunately, invited. But it's just as well, I believe this school will suit them better." Robert gently ushered the boys forward and watched Takumi study them with an adroit eye.

"You are quite temperamental and quick to make rash decisions," he murmured, looking at Harry. "And you are quite shy, but more in tune with yourself. Perhaps it would be better to call you calm," he said after studying Neville. "All right, let's see what I've got back here." He began to pull out several slim boxes from the shelves, collecting about ten or twelve and placing them into two different piles in front of the boys. "Go ahead and open the boxes, give the wand inside a little wave. If it doesn't feel right or act right for you, put it back and try the next one." He continued to collect more boxes as the boys did as they were asked.

Several things exploded in the course of their investigation, including several of the boxes meant to hold the wands. Neville found his match first, a nut-brown piece carved with vines above the handgrip.

"Walnut and dragon's blood, twelve and one quarter inches. Good for earth work," Takumi told him.

Harry kept trying, curious beyond belief about what his wand would look like and contain. At last, when his pile of tried wands was nearly twice as big as Neville's, he found it. It was nearly white, only the faintest hint of yellow showing in the grain of the wood. A series of runes was carved in a spiral around the shaft and the handgrip was grooved to provide a better hold.

"Ash. Containing phoenix tears, eleven and a half inches. Very powerful for healing and defensive spells." Takumi smiled sadly at Harry, "I'm rather sorry to see that one go, it was one of my favorites."

"How much do we owe you?" Robert asked.

"Fourteen galleons." Takumi held out his hand with a cheeky smile.

With a grunt, he handed over the money. "I'll see you around, Takumi. Keep out of trouble, would you?"

"Sure thing. And you two come back to see me if you have any trouble with your wands, all right?"

The boys nodded and followed their guardian out of the shop.

"Let's go buy that broom and your other club supplies and then grab some lunch. I'm starving!" Robert complained.

Giggling, they did as he asked. Soon they were making their way home and both boys disappeared into their rooms to devour their new books and arrange their supplies to their liking.

-o-0-o-

_Forty days later…_

Robert handed the boys their shrunken trunks as they prepared to board the shinkansen. "Make sure you write me when you get there. I want to hear all about your first week and the clubs and everything."

"We will," Neville promised.

They shared several warm and tight hugs before getting on board the train bound for Tokyo and finding their assigned seats.

As the bullet train pulled out of the station, they waved briefly to their dad and then settled back to enjoy their first ride on the super fast train.

Or they tried. Harry found himself feeling a little bit nauseous despite the fact that he could barely even feel the fast speeds they were traveling. He supposed it may have something to do with the occasional stop and start as they passed other stations and passengers boarded or departed the train.

Only about an hour and a half later, they arrived in Tokyo Eki and followed the signs to catch the train for the next leg of their journey. The boat for the school left from Mito on the coast to the northeast of the capital. Ryuushima was a large island situated between Kyushu and Hokkaido off the east coast of the country. Of course, very few muggles knew that it existed since it had been made invisible shortly after the school was established there. Harry was still impressed with how they had erased its existence from human memory. There weren't even any books that stated the existence of Ryuushima anymore.

The second train was not as fast as the shinkansen, but it had a much shorter distance to travel. They also managed to catch one of the trains that stopped at only a few stations instead of every single one. After another hour of reading or dozing in the gently rocking train car, they arrived at Mito to catch the ferry to the island. Several other students were already gathered on the pier to wait for the boat, designated by the uniforms they wore that matched the two boys'. Without the robes worn over the blazers, everyone appeared to be normal middle school students.

A boy and a girl who looked to be about their age were standing off to the side of the small group of students and sharing a bag of what appeared to be strawberry candies.

Deciding to introduce themselves, the Katsuros made their way over.

"Hi!" Harry started. The pair smiled at him in welcome. "I'm Katsuro Harry. This is my brother, Neville."

The girl cocked her head to the side. "I'm Kitahama Amaya. Are you both half?

Neville shook his head. "No, our parents passed away when we were young and a friend of the family adopted us. We're originally from the United Kingdom."

"Whoa!" the boy said in awe. "You must speak really good English, then. Oh, and I'm Nakamura Daichi. Nice to meet you."

A chugging noise sounded across the water and they looked over to see the ferry approaching the dock.

"Looks like it's almost time to go," Amaya said. "Since we are all first years, perhaps we should stay together, yes?"

The three boys nodded agreeably and joined the queue waiting to board the boat. Several other new middle school students had walked up as they were talking. In total, it looked like there were about forty new students for the chugakkou and the rest were all high school students returning a little early.

"Here we go!" Harry said as they stepped onto the boat. They found seats along the edge of the deck and watched the land slip away behind them.

"Next stop, Ryuushima," Neville murmured.

-o-0-o-

A/N: Reviews keep me going! Comments? Suggestions? Please read and review with your opinions, I welcome all forms of feedback.

~Shara


	4. Chapter 4

**Title:** Mr. Robaato

**Author:** Shara Lunison

**Beta:** Batsutousai

**Rating:** T

**Pairings:** Undecided (I'm open to suggestions, just not H/N—they're brothers!)

**Warnings:** AU, non-Hogwarts Harry and Neville.

**Summary**: Dumbledore warns both the Potters and the Longbottoms about the Dark Lord's impending attack on one of their families. They decide to take matters into their own hands and create a secret that only they and a man named Robaato-san know of. Both families are attacked, but the boys left behind are only robots. The real Harry and Neville are in Japan under the care of Robaato-san and grow up far away from Britain and Hogwarts. Inspired by Mr. Roboto by Styx

**Disclaim Her:** This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by JK Rowling, various publishers including but not limited to Bloomsbury Books, Scholastic Books and Raincoast Books, and Warner Bros., Inc. No money is being made and no copyright or trademark infringement is intended.

**A/N:** I've been having trouble really getting into this story… and also have to warn everyone that nothing terribly interesting happens until towards the end of their first trimester, so I'm going to skip most of it after they start their classes. Oh, and a magatama is like one half of yin-yang.

**Chapter Four—Settling In**

The boat docked at a small curve in the side of the island. The shape of the whole piece of land was like a magatama charm, with the middle school on the small spit at the top, a quidditch pitch opposite the dock at the curve in the side, and the high school buildings curving around the edges of the bottom of the island with a round practice building in the middle of them.

A middle-aged woman wearing a formal black kimono and black haori greeted them at the dock on Ryuushima along with a smiling younger man wearing a long-sleeved button up shirt, black slacks, and the same sleeveless robes as the students gathered on the dock. "I am Himejima Suzume, the Headmistress for both the chugakkou and koukou schools. This is Fujisaki Yosuke, who teaches Geography and Defense. He will settle you in your dormitories and give you an initial tour of the campus." She motioned elegantly to the man at her side. "If the Tokujyutsu students would follow me, I will show you to the hall where the testing will take place."

Harry looked at the high school students who had arrived with them with new respect. They were all still wearing the normal high school uniform, but he could see the sense in having one, since the Tokujyutsu uniform might look somewhat out of place to muggles.

Fujisaki-sensei bowed to the Headmistress. "Thank you, Himejima-kouchou." He turned to survey the forty new students with a smile. "Welcome to Ryuushima! Everyone follow me and I will show you the dormitories first so that you can deposit your things. There will be two students to a room, so if you have any preferences, I suggest you pair up now!" With that, he turned and walked away. The students surged after him, and people shuffled around to ask about rooming with those they had met thus far.

Harry and Neville decided to room together, since they were used to doing so. It wasn't until the past few years that Robert had added another room to the house so that they both had more room to themselves. He claimed he was preparing for their teenage years.

Daichi and Amaya looked at one another ruefully and decided they would each pair with anyone who hadn't found a roommate by the time they reached the dorms.

"This is RyuuChuu dormitory!" Fujisaki announced once they were closer to one end of a long L-shaped building. There was a large field opposite it with what appeared to be a classroom building and a practice building creating the other two sides of the square. "It used to have some other name, but somehow RyuuChuu stuck over the years. Many of the high school students will refer to all of you as RyuuChuu as well."

He led them inside the end of the building where they were gathered and they got their first view of the rooms. Each one had two levels with a bed in each. The upper level had a railing with a desk looking over the lower half of the room and a small wardrobe against the wall with the stairs. The lower level had the wardrobe near the bottom of the stairs, across from the door into the room, and the desk was placed directly below the upper one. A second staircase led down a few feet to a small shower and bathroom.

"There are ten rooms on each end of the building, with a dining hall in the center of the 'L'." Fujisaki informed everyone. "First floor is for the freshmen, second floor is second years, and third floor is third years. If you have a roommate, go ahead and pick a room. This end is closer to the practice building, the other is near the classrooms."

Harry and Neville said farewell to Amaya and Daichi and made there way at a sedate pace (compared to their classmates) down the hallway.

"I'm thinking the other end, near the classroom building, how about you?" Neville asked.

"Yes, please. As close as we can get, and as far as possible from the dining hall, thanks." Neither of them were very fond of high volumes of noise, which they instinctively knew would be unbearable near the practice building and the dining hall.

They passed through a large room with seating for a couple hundred people. The walls were lined with eating stations that provided different things when meals were being served. The opposite hallway currently held only a few pairs selecting rooms. The two brothers walked all the way down to the end to find that the rooms on the very end of the building were still empty. They opened both doors and compared them. The one on the right, facing the courtyard and the other buildings, was identical to the one on the left, which faced the open ocean with a view of what looked like small club rooms to the left around the rest of the building.

"It's down to the view, then," Harry mused. "Would you rather the ocean, or the trees in the square out there?"

"Trees." Neville closed the door on the left-hand room and immediately took over the ground floor space of the room they had chosen. He knew that Harry liked high places, so the loft was the perfect place for him.

They both took out their trunks, unshrinking them and placing them at the foot of their beds to unpack later. They rejoined the tour in the hallway, closing the door to their new room behind them. As they did, a sign that said 'Harry and Neville Katsuro' appeared on the door.

Amaya and Daichi reemerged from the crowd, dragging another girl and boy with them. "We're in the same wing as you!" Daichi announced. "And this is my roommate, Ken." The energetic boy waved his hand at them.

"And mine. This is Saki," Amaya introduced a very shy girl, who bowed nervously.

Harry and Neville nodded politely and introduced themselves in return.

"Now that you have a place to sleep once I've exhausted you," Himejima gave a wicked grin, "I'll show you the classroom building." He led them out the nearby doors, and they skirted the courtyard along the path to reach the second largest building on this end of the island. It was also three stories, and they learned from the teacher that they would have their classes on the first floor all year, and then switch to the second floor the next. "Sections are selected randomly, but there will be four sections of ten students each. You will not necessarily remain with the same people each year, because after the winter trimester you will move up a year and be sorted by your grades. I suggest you make friends with everyone, though."

Each of the classrooms was identical, a teacher's desk at the front of the room in front of a blackboard with three rows of four chairs facing it. Each room was labeled with the section, 1-A, 1-B, 1-C, and 1-D.

They were led into the practice building next, which had rooms for the more established clubs and the ones that had more technical equipment that needed the extra space, like the Home-Ec Club and the Music Club.

"If you are interested in joining a club, all you have to do is find their club room and ask to join once classes begin," Himejima told them. "For Track Club, Basketball Club, and the like, you may notice that there are no facilities on the island. There wasn't room. Instead, floating platforms are constructed for practices off the edges of the island. The club members will be able to fill you in on how these work and where they are located for your particular club. Other than this, there is the quidditch pitch that you saw from the dock when you landed and the high schools on the lower portion of the island. You are not barred from wandering into their territory, but be warned that they are learning more advanced magic and you may end up seeing the nurse if you aren't careful."

He led them back outside into the courtyard. "This area is communal for all middle school students. It is everyone's responsibility to keep it clean and tidy. The same goes for your rooms and classrooms. There will be a roster for each section that rotates the responsibility in the classroom building, but there _will _be periodic inspections of your dorm rooms, so be warned! And now, I'm sure you're all hungry, so go enjoy the only quiet dinner you're liable to get in the dining hall before the upper years return." With a flippant wave, he turned and left them to their own devices.

Their group of six followed the crowd back through the dorm and claimed a table in the airy three-story room after grabbing a tray and whatever dish struck their fancy. Staircases came down from the upper floors into the cafeteria and Harry could see from the railings that there was nothing to stop the noise from traveling from floor to floor or even from one end of the building to the other. With a sigh, he tucked into his curry rice and listened to the conversation around their table.

Neville was explaining their parenting to Saki and Ken. "We were born in the United Kingdom. Harry's parents died when he was one and a half, and mine have been in the hospital since about the same time. Robaato-san took us in as a favor to them, since they left us in his care just before they died."

"Wait," Daichi interrupted with confusion, "You're not really brothers? And I thought both of your parents died?"

"Ah, sorry!" Neville rubbed his hand over the back of his head in chagrin. "It can get confusing. We are brothers now, but we were not born that way. And I often simply tell people my parents are dead because it is easier. They are in a mental hospital. They have no idea who they are, and they wouldn't know who I am, either."

Amaya covered her mouth in horror. "How did it happen, and so close together? If you don't mind my asking, that is."

Harry decided to speak up and give his brother a break. "I know he didn't get very far in the rest of the world, but the most recent dark lord, Voldemort, was very active during our parent's lifetimes. He killed my parents and his followers tortured Neville's parents into insanity after he was defeated by Harry Potter. We were here because they had placed us with Robaato-san for our protection."

"That's terrible," Saki murmured sympathetically.

"But, why didn't you return once Voldemort was defeated?" Ken asked through a mouthful of udon, completely enthralled by the story.

Harry frowned slightly at the boy. "Our guardian has good reason to believe that Voldemort is not gone for good. Until we know for sure, we will trust his judgment on the matter."

Neville yawned. "Well, I'm knackered. I think I might go unpack and then go to sleep. The other students are returning tomorrow morning and we have opening ceremonies to attend as well."

"I'll come with you," Harry offered, picking up his tray and preparing to leave the table. He smiled at their new friends, "I'll see you all tomorrow, yes? Have a good night!"

"Good night, Harry, Neville," they answered.

The two brothers rinsed off their dishes in some spouts of water near the kitchen area and stacked their trays to the side of it before heading back to their room. It took only about thirty minutes to put away their things. The wardrobes were soon filled with clothes, the single bookcase for each boy filled, and the desk covered in writing supplies. Harry was leaning over the railing of his area watching Neville finish organizing his books and asked, "Would you like to decorate a bit?"

Neville considered for a moment. "Do you think we're allowed?"

"They didn't say we couldn't. And if we do it with magic, it's not like they couldn't undo it in about ten seconds."

"All right. Let's do it!" Neville picked up his wand and pulled out one of his books to look up some charms he remembered reading about and wanted to use.

Another thirty minutes later and the room had been transformed. Harry's area was a dark green a few shades deeper than his eyes. A strip near the ceiling had been filled with images of plants and trees growing gently in a slight breeze. Neville had decided he liked the strip and asked Harry to continue it across the rest of the room and he had added another one lower down in his section that was an actual shelf built into the wall where he placed a few real plants that he had brought from his collection at home. It was still a bit empty, but they were both sure that they would soon have even more samples from Herbology class.

Neville's walls were a slightly aqua blue that blended nicely with Harry's green. They had both agreed to make the ceiling black and covered it with stars. Harry's floor was now covered in olive green tatami mats, and Neville had changed his into a slightly off-white carpet that looked like sand at the beach.

To finish the decorations, they hung up a few posters they had brought from home. Harry had his favorite quidditch teams from Japan and the U.K. and Neville hung up several posters of some wizarding singers, which he had had Robert cast silencing spells on years before when they got them home and realized that the posters liked to actually _sing_.

They turned out the lights and climbed into bed, both of them smiling up at the stars above them and talking softly until they fell asleep.

-o-0-o-

Harry stood straight beside his brother in the front row among the other eighty students of the middle school. As he waited, the Headmistress stood and walked up the podium to begin the opening ceremony.

"Welcome, everyone, to another year at Ryuushima Chugakkou," she announced. "Another group of you has moved, and another has joined to take their place. I truly believe that this year's first year class will be among the most exceptional that Ryuushima has ever welcomed."

Everyone listened attentively as she continued, outlining the goals and past accomplishments of the school and her hopes for the new generation now entering. Finally, when she finished introducing the other teachers, everyone slowly filtered out of the large assembly room to look at the bulletin boards in the entrance hall to see which section they had been placed in.

Harry, Neville, Amaya, Daichi, Saki, and Ken along with four others who were also roommates with each other on the same end of the dormitory as them, were in class 1-B.

"That's excellent," Neville said when they found out from their other friends. They each took a copy of their class schedules from the folder attached to their section and studied them. All of their muggle subjects were in the mornings over the course of the week, from nine to eleven. They got a two hour break for lunch before having one of their magical courses from one to four. The afternoons and weekends were reserved for clubs and homework, except for Friday when they had astronomy at midnight on the roof of the school.

"One of the upper years told me the schedules stay pretty much the same for all three years. Always muggle studies in the morning, magical classes in the afternoons," Amaya told them.

"And every class in the same room every period." Daichi groaned. "It's just like normal middle school."

"I prefer it that way, thanks." Harry laughed. "If we were going to school in Britain, we'd have to trek halfway across a dusty old castle to get to each of our classes." He and Neville had told them about Hogwarts over breakfast that morning.

"Yeah, but that castle sounds amazing!" Ken argued. "Secret passages, tapestries, suits of armor, ghosts! It's like a mystery novel come to life."

Everyone laughed at his enthusiasm.

"Listen," Neville said a few minutes later, "I want to go see if I can find the club room for tai chi and kung fu. Why don't we all split up and hunt down the club rooms for the ones we're interested in?"

"I'm going to come with you, actually!" Ken informed Neville. "My father says that the first one should calm me down and the second one should help me burn off excess energy. So I'm going to join the same clubs."

They wandered off and Harry looked questioningly at Amaya, Saki, and Daichi.

"I want to join the Religion Club," Saki revealed quietly, and bowed to them before walking off.

"She's quiet and very formal, but she's really nice once you get to know her," Amaya said fondly. "I want to join the quidditch club, mainly. I haven't decided on anything else yet."

"Oh, good!" Harry said, "I'm going to join that one and the kendo club. What about you, Daichi?"

"I'm for kendo as well," the wide-shouldered boy told him. "I've never played quidditch, but we three might as well go check them both out together."

The other two agreed and they went to check out the little club room buildings that were hidden on the opposite side of the dorms. Each one was like a little wooden hut with a sign on the door proclaiming the name of the club that owned it. They passed half a dozen of the things before they found one of the ones they were looking for. It was about halfway up the side of the dorm building and proclaimed that it was the 'Kendo Club' in large black letters on the wooden sign.

Harry knocked on the frame before poking his head inside. "Anyone home?" he asked quietly. He almost screamed when a bamboo practice sword suddenly swooped down from beside the door and tried to take his head off. Only his quick reflexes saved him from a nasty bruise on the back of his neck.

A laughing young man appeared in the doorway and pulled off his helmet. "Good reflexes! If you want to join this club, though, that's only going to get you so far."

Harry blanched at the other boy before introducing himself and Daichi. "And we do want to join the kendo club."

"Good. I was really just messing with you, Harry-kun. I could have pulled that strike without actually hurting you. I just wanted to see your reaction. I'm Daisuke, the club captain."

"Nice to meet you," Daichi said. "Is there anything special we have to do to join?"

"Nah. Just a form to fill out. Here." Daisuke handed them both a sheet of paper that said 'Kendo Club Registration' at the top. "Fill that out and return it to me and you'll be good to go. Club meetings are every Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. You don't have to come to every meeting, but try to make it at least once a week, all right?"

Nodding eagerly, the two boys left the clubroom and joined Amaya to look for the quidditch club. It ended up being the closest one to the end of the dormitories. Harry decided to let Amaya knock this time, not looking forward to getting his head taken off or something similar again. She just laughed at him, knocked once, and then sashayed into the quidditch club room.

"Chaser!" a voice cried from one corner. Harry and Daichi followed their friend in with confusion and the voice called out, "Seeker! Beater!" as they crossed the threshold into the room.

A boy with thick glasses emerged from the corner where they had heard the voice and looked them over. "You three here to join?" he asked.

"Yes," Amaya and Harry answered simultaneously while Daichi said, "I've never played before, so I don't know."

"Excellent!" The boy pushed up his glasses from where they had slipped down his nose. "And even if you haven't flown before, I'd really like you to join," he told Daichi. "We've been really low on beaters the past few years, and you have the perfect build for one."

Daichi considered, "What do beaters do?"

"They use wooden bats like these," the boy pulled one from a rack against the wall to show him, "to hit black balls called bludgers that try to attack the players and knock them off their brooms. Your job is to aim them at the opposite team and do as much damage as possible."

Daichi grinned. "I'm totally up for that."

"Excellent! Here are your forms." He procured a paper for each of them. "Return them to Arashi, the captain, when you come for practice this week. Practices are Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. We make as many teams as possible with the available players. Each team plays against each of the others over the course of the year—there's a middle school and a high school league. The winners get to play in the inter-school game at the end of the year. The middle school hasn't won that for more than twenty years, so we're really going to be training hard. Try to make practices as often as you can."

All three of them nodded and took the forms before leaving the building.

"Lunch?" Daichi asked hopefully.

Amaya laughed at her friend and nodded agreeably. "Lunch."

-o-0-o-

A/N: Next chapter, classes and maybe the time jump to June. ^_~

~Shara


End file.
